Third escapee captured; two still on loose

Published: Sunday, October 14, 2001

Associated Press

DALLAS {AP} Law enforcement officers from several agencies Saturday night located the third of five escaped inmates from a North Texas jail break, arresting him at the home of a former relative in Fannin County.

"There were some folks there who were harboring Riley, and they may face charges themselves, but that'll be up to Fanning County, Grayson County Sheriff Keith Gary told The Associated Press.

Brian Jeremy Riley, 27, of Sherman was taken into custody about 8:45 p.m. Saturday. Gary said he would be arraigned immediately, then transferred back to the Grayson County Jail, where he and four others escaped about 10:30 p.m. Thursday.

Two other escapees, Riley's brother, Jerry W. Riley, 24, of Collinsville, and Jeremy John Reynolds, 21, of Gordonville, were captured Friday afternoon after the owner of a stable was abducted near Prosper, about 35 miles south of Sherman.

They were found about 4:30 p.m. Friday in a building at the Jolabec Stables after Brian Riley and the two other escapees  identified as Bob Harold Leach, 38, of Pilot Point, and Gerald Lynn Gantt, 45, of Denison  fled in two stolen pickups, taking the owner, Joyce Silvius, 59, hostage and tying up two of her employees.

Sometime later in the day, Gary said, Brian Riley, accompanied by a 16-year-old girl, parted from Leach and Gantt. The 16-year-old girl was found sleeping in one of the pickup trucks about 2:30 a.m. Saturday in Roanoke, about 40 miles southwest of the abduction site.

The teen-ager told police she had spent part of Friday with the escapees, saying at one point Friday night they stopped at a residence in Bonham, county seat of Fannin County.

Leach and Gantt, with "an older white woman" believed to be Silvius with them, robbed two individuals Saturday afternoon in Wood County, about 150 miles southeast of Sherman, leaving behind the pickup truck they stole during the abduction and taking a 1995 dark gray Nissan extended cab pickup with light green graphics and a diamond plate toolbox and wide tires.

The vehicle, with license plate TB9798, was last seen northbound on U.S. 69 in Wood County.